THANKFUL FOR GRACE

Thanksgiving Day

by Lydia Maria Child/Adapted by Rebecca Phillips

Over the river and over the wood, To Niece and Nephews' house I go; The plane knows the way To carry my things Through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and over the wood, Oh, how the engines roar! It jostles the head, And puts to sleep my legs, As over the ground we go. Over the river and over the wood, Fly fast, my 747 plane! Soar over the ground, Like a hunting hound, For this is Thanksgiving-Day. Over the river and over the wood, And straight through the airport gate! We seem to go Extremely slow, It is so hard to wait! Over the river and over the wood; Now Niece and Nephews' caps I spy! Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie! I am so thankful for the opportunity to hug the necks and kiss the faces of my niece and nephews (my newest nephew for the first time) this Thanksgiving. Like the poet, I long for the times I can spend with my family and it seems the trip there is longer than the wait! Just thinking about the return trip causes me to choke back sobs and blink away tears, but then I think about the "family" I am coming back to. My tears dry and the sobs wane, because the family that I have away from home is precious. I am thankful for Grace! ~Rebecca Phillips

Thankful Days

Several of my facebook friends are posting things they’re thankful for every day this month. I enjoy reading their notes, and it’s made me think of how all the things we so often appreciate are really manifestations of God and his goodness.

Here’s what I mean:  As I think of specific things I’m grateful for, some of the things I notice are clean sheets, the sky, fall leaves, my wonderful husband, good food, brightly colored flowers, little birds flitting around the feeder, heat coming out of the vents in my floor. I know, and have often said to others, that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Recently, I am learning to see God in all of these things.  I don’t mean that I am becoming a pantheist, but that I see God’s hand and character in the things He made.

My flannel sheets (is anything better on a cold night?) remind me that God is loving and tender, the source of all comfort; fall leaves are a sign of his faithfulness in bringing the seasons around on schedule; my husband—and others who love me—show me that God is love; the coleus sitting in my window depicts His loveliness; the chickadees, cardinals, titmice, and all their friends are evidence of God’s creativity; good food shows his bounty and his goodness to provide not just our needs but also our delights. 

Much has been written about the names of God, and that is certainly a worthwhile study. However, one does not have to be a Hebrew scholar to see God. Psalm 19 reminds us that “the heavens declare the glory of God,” and goes on to assert that “there is no voice or language where their voice is not heard.”  In other words, people all over the world can see God’s glory. Mankind is completely without excuse when it comes to opportunities to know God.  I can see Him even on my facebook wall!

--Sherry Poff

VOTE! TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

This morning, I watched as thirty-ish children sat around maps of the world and prayed for children in various countries. It dawned on me that our children are living in a country where meeting together to pray and to talk about Christ is legal, while many of the children for whom they prayed do not. What struck me further was that 30% of the children in the room were Chinese. What a different life they would be living if they were in China.

This coming weekend we will remember the persecuted church. We will pray and focus our thoughts to the many who sacrifice their lives to assemble with other believers for the sake of Christ. We will attempt to understand what it is they face in their countries, and we will strive to relate it to our own sufferings for the cause of Christ. 

I'm asking that we remember, pray, focus, understand and relate a few days early. The persecuted church is not an unrealistic outcome in our own country. The decisions, whether large or small, that are made by the men and women who are voted in on Tuesday will directly impact our lives and the lives of our children. 

^{Romans 1:18-25 (HCSB)}

¹⁸ For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, ¹⁹ since what can be known^[o] about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. ²¹ For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

God is ultimately in control, but that does not mean that we should not take a bold stand in our community and in our nation. It is urgent that we get on our faces before God to beg for His mercy on our country. If we are quiet, I believe we are in danger of bringing the persecuted church to the good ol' U.S.A.

Six of the world's most precious children call me Aunt Bec Bec. My vote matters. 

~Rebecca Phillips

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Our kids have been getting sugared up over the last couple of weeks with the many Fall festivals and school parties. Wednesday's "Trunk or Treat" promises to top it all off with enough goodies to last months, and just in time to get them all sweetened up for the holiday season. This morning in Future Church was no different...to get a bag of Skittles tossed in your direction, you only had to conjure up a memory of what had been taught over the past seven weeks.

I really thought I'd give just a few pieces of candy out as we waited for "Big Church" to finish up, but boy was I wrong! Having spoiled their Sunday dinners by feeding them "Lighthouse Celebration" food, now I had managed to spoil dessert as well!

What a SWEET treat to know that all the time of preparation and studying that had been done for the book of Nehemiah did not go to waste. These children managed to come up with over 50 facts from the study in a few short minutes, and were willing to give more had the adults not come in running to save what was left of their child's nutrition for the day. 

While a few wrapped pieces of sugary goodness probably got them through for a few hours before they crashed or turned wild on their siblings, I know the sweetness of God's Word will nourish them much longer. If you get a sweet craving over the next few weeks, find one of our Lighthouse Kids and just ask them to tell you anything they remember about the book of Nehemiah. Your taste buds will never be the same!

Psalm 34:8 (HCSB) 

Taste and see that the Lord is good. 

How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!

~Rebecca Phillips

PUZZLES

PUZZLES

            I love puzzles—word puzzles, brain teasers, jigsaw puzzles.  In fact, recently I have started doing a word puzzle or brain teaser right before I go to sleep.  After all, you have heard it too:  if you want to keep your intelligence and not succumb to age-related memory disorders, you have to keep your mind active!  So I am adding anything I think will help me keep my brain active.  I find that I become obsessive—I have to do one more puzzle, find one more word, answer one more question.

            I don’t love all puzzles though.  I don’t like the puzzling situations in life, the things I cannot explain.  I have trouble letting God be the one with the answers.  I ask “Why, God?  Why did you allow this to happen?  Why didn’t you stop it?  You could have, you know.”  Don’t tell me I shouldn’t ask why!  How am I going to learn the lessons God wants me to learn if I do not ask why?  Sometimes He shows me why.  Sometimes He lets me continue to question.

            I reread an entry in my journal this week from October 16, 2009.  It reads, “God, why?  I don’t understand.  I don’t understand.  I don’t understand.  Help me to accept and trust even when I don’t understand.”

            John and Rachel had just been told they would never have children of their own.  I wrote, “John has always loved children and they have always loved him.  When he was young and you asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, his answer was always, ‘A daddy!’  Rachel has always wanted children.  She helped raise her six younger siblings.  She wanted to be a stay-at-home mommy.  So what are you going to do with this, Lord?  I know you will do something, but couldn’t you let me in on it?  Adoption?  Working in an orphanage?  What are the possibilities?  Lord, help me to trust.”

            On September 5, 2011, I wrote, “I woke up at my usual time with one thought—Mikaela!  I even came up with a middle name, though I am sure that John and Rachel will not use it—Mikaela Joy, for the joy that a child is born!  Mikaela Joy will be born very soon.  She is due the end of September.  Her parents looked through profiles of couples on Bethany’s adoption website.  John and Rachel were the third couple they looked at and they looked no further.  Oh, Jesus, a baby!  A precious child on loan from You!”

            And Micaela Jocelyn (not Joy, but happy or joyful) was born September 19, 2011.  God let me see a partial answer to my question.

 But God does not give me answers about everything.  Why did God allow my marriage to fail?  I wanted so desperately to have a marriage that honored Him.  I did everything I could think of to fix it.  I begged God to heal my marriage.  He didn’t hear me; no, He didn’t tell me why it was happening and He didn’t keep my marriage from exploding.  I will forever carry my grief over that unanswered question. 

So how do I respond to the missing pieces of the puzzle?  Here is my answer.  Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  That is the answer.  I must trust God for the end.  There is no assurance that the pieces of the puzzle will fit, that we will see the completed puzzle.  Only God sees the final picture.

                                                            ~~ Faith Himes Lamb

           

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

Greetings from Pittsburgh!  No, I have not come to see the Steelers, the Pirates, or even the Penguins.  My lovely first child lives and works here.  It’s a beautiful city.  Add to that the fact that it’s the childhood home of one of my favorite authors, Annie Dillard, and you have a recipe for a good trip! 

All the way up from Chattanooga, I observed a quick-change of the seasons.  I’ve noticed this phenomenon before driving north.  Sometimes it’s spring all over again; this time it’s an earlier fall. I never ever get over the fall leaves.  The Psalmist reminds us that “the heavens declare the glory of God,” and that they do. But so does the earth sometimes. Canadian poet Bliss Carmen wrote, “The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry/ of bugles going by.”  I saw some of those scarlet maples on the drive up.  They are truly stunning! 

Yesterday we visited Clayton, the home of industrialist Henry Clay Frick.  (I first read about this home in Dillard’s book, so I was very excited to see it!) By hard work and some good connections, Frick made a lot of money that he used to furnish his impressive home in a grand fashion.  It was fun to see, but even with all his money and influence, Mr. Frick’s beautiful things are only copies of the beauty that is outside the doors of his house.

Today we walked in Frick Park and passed mounds and waves of purple asters, backed by yellow and orange leaves. It just doesn’t get much better. Truly God is a God of beauty and creativity.  Just imagine the magnificent mind and heart behind such loveliness.

I am so grateful for a God who gave the beauties of his creation to everyone, rich and poor alike.  Paul reminds Timothy of this concept in I Timothy 6:17: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

I hope you are finding time to enjoy the richness of this lovely season!

 --Sherry Poff

A Penny for Your Thoughts

If I had a penny for every thought I had today, I'd be rich!! I recently read that the human brain has an average of 70,000 thoughts in one day. Since there are 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour period, I tend to think I'm at the higher end of the range. In fact, I think I pretty much meet that quota in just a few minutes. At any given moment, I could be excited about my new furniture, anxious about a deadline, frustrated with a plan that went awry, curious about a friend's Facebook comment, nervous about a confrontation, heartbroken for a friend who has turned from the Lord, giddy that I'll have a new nephew in a month and another niece or nephew in two months, sad for a friend who's grieving loss, and wondering what I have to eat in my fridge. And those thoughts lead to the next few moments of planning how I'll arrange my furniture, wishing my deadline would go away, agonizing over how I should have done something differently, forming my response to a Facebook comment, practicing in my head what I'll say in a confrontational situation, praying for a friend, planning what I'll pack to see my family for the holidays, wondering if I'll ever have cousins to take to play with my niece and nephews, making a mental note to write a card and wondering if I have all the ingredients for a new recipe I saw on Pinterest. Whew...it's exhausting!
Thank goodness for Psalm 46:10 which says, "Be still, and know that I am God..." The HCSB version reads, "Stop your fighting-and know that I am God..." In the midst of the chaos in my head, He is God. There are many thoughts fighting for priority in my mind. God just wants me to be still and know that He is God!
So how do I do this? Well, I don't have a magic answer or a formula for being still, but as I turn off the TV, log off of Facebook, sit in the quietness of the room and place my thoughts on my God, my scattered thoughts are pulling together, my burden is lifting, my headache is subsiding, and my tired body is giving up the fight.

~Rebecca Phillips